The American National Rugby League's preparations for this year's World Cup qualifiers move up another notch with AMNRL president David Niu and USA Tomahawks head coach Matt Elliott flying to Hawaii today (Thursday) for a series of team development meetings and a high performance camp. The goal is to ensure that the Tomahawks are adequately prepared for their upcoming international programme. The US is set to play Canada in a two-match home and away Colonial Cup series in August, ahead of the 2013 RLWC Qualifiers in Philadelphia in October.
Niu and Elliott will use the Hawaii trip to develop a strategic plan based on individual player assessment and evaluation, review of game videos, preparation of individual player training programs, and the formulation of a blueprint for the USA's road to the 2013 RLWC in England and Wales. Coach Elliott said that in many ways the Hawaii trip is a fact-finding mission and that his job will be more, "a role of observation" than anything else. He adds he wants to start, "Working out the players' strengths and weaknesses" before they come together as a squad. I've told Dave that if we don't have an idea of these things beforehand, we will minimize our effectiveness as a team when we assemble.".
Included on the itinerary will be a couple of trial games on Saturday so that the pair can see first hand some of the potential national squad players who will be on show. The overall goal is to build a dynamic player pool that encompasses personnel and athletes from all the regions that are committed to the collective goal of the USA Tomahawks qualifying for the World Cup.
"We are scheduling high performance camps, player meetings, and game observation in the East and West between now and the end of August, along with monitoring the progress of our foreign based players," continued Niu.
The East high performance camp is tentatively set for 18th to 28th August and will include the AMNRL Atlantic Conference Grand Final and the opening Colonial Cup clash in Philadelphia.
USA Tomahawks 2011 schedule:
Saturday, August 27 v Canada (Philadelphia)
Saturday, September 17 v Canada (Toronto)
Saturday, October 15 v South Africa (Philadelphia)
Sunday, October 23 v Jamaica (Philadelphia)
For more information contact Brian Lowe (+61 414 460 618)